Police beat

Reynoldsburg: Pit bull owner charged, told to remove dogs from city

A Reynoldsburg police officer faced an aggressive pit bull while investigating a complaint about another pit bull roaming through a city neighborhood.

Two officers responded to an animal complaint April 1 in the 1400 block of Golding Drive regarding a gray pit bull that was running loose.

One officer noticed another pit bull on a chain in a backyard had climbed under a fence and was in a neighbor's yard. He described the dog as "extremely aggressive" and said he was afraid to approach it, according to the police report. A female resident said the dogs belonged to her boyfriend, but she managed to retrieve the dog from the neighbor's yard and put it in the garage.

The reporting officer said the woman refused to give her identification because the dogs were not hers. The officer told her they were investigating a criminal complaint at her home and failure to identify herself could result in additional charges. She provided her identity and the phone number of her boyfriend.

The officers spoke to the boyfriend and he agreed to provide paperwork on the dogs, but produced expired dog tags and did not have appropriate paperwork, police said. The reporting officer said an investigation uncovered the fact that the man's aggressive dog had previously been labeled "dangerous" because it bit someone in 2012.

Because the man did not have the proper additional license required for a dangerous dog, he was issued multiple citations and officers advised him to remove the dogs from Reynoldsburg.

In other police reports:

* Officers investigated an animal complaint March 30 at a home in the 8600 block of Taylor Woods Drive. A man told officers his dog bit someone walking by on the sidewalk. He said he was attempting to get the animal in the house when he saw it run out to the sidewalk and "nip" at a man who was walking by. The man who was bitten showed officers his right forearm, where the skin was broken in two places, according to the report. The reporting officer said both men agreed to exchange information and the officer took a photo of the man's arm.

* Officers found a number of mailboxes torn off their posts and placed on car roofs at 5:55 a.m. April 1 in the 8000 block of Reynoldswood Drive. The reporting officer said there were multiple uprooted mailboxes lying in yards and on top of vehicles. Several of the cars had scratched paint because of the mailboxes, reports stated.

Police assisted with returning the scattered mailboxes to the correct houses and photographed the mailboxes and damage to the vehicles, according to the report.

* Police caught a bicycle thief red-handed April 1 at a business in the 7100 block of East Main Street. Reports said a boy asked the manager to call police because someone had just stolen his bicycle.

The reporting officer said he could see a man riding a bicycle in the distance on Rosehill Road that matched the description of the stolen bicycle. He said he turned his cruiser sharply into a driveway to stop the man, who was riding the bicycle on the sidewalk.

Police said the man admitted "he shouldn't have done it." The victim identified the man and the bicycle and the man was charged with theft and transported to the Franklin County jail.

* A black Glock .45-caliber gun was reported stolen from a car parked in the 8400 block of Priestley Drive between 5 p.m. April 3 and 2:30 a.m. April 4. The owner of the vehicle told police he locked the car before leaving the firearm in it, but when he returned at 2:30 a.m., he found the vehicle was still locked and the firearm was gone. He said he is the only one who has a key to the vehicle but said it was possible "to jimmy the passenger door to open it."